Melbourne Cup Jockeys: Riding To Win

Held at Flemington Racecourse each year, and the feature event of the Victorian Spring Racing Carnival, the Melbourne Cup is the most lucrative and prestigious two-mile handicap horse race in the world.

Almost as important as the field of horses are the Melbourne Cup jockeys who ride the twenty or so starters around the oval track to the finishing post.

The Melbourne Cup is a handicap race for 3 year olds and over. The minimum weight for a Melbourne Cup jockey is 49kg and while there is no allocated maximum weight, the top weighted horse must carry no less than 57kg. The combined weight of each Melbourne Cup jockey and his or her riding gear is adjusted with ballast to achieve the desired handicapped weight.

In 2008, the total prize money pool was $5.5 million, together with trophies valued at $125,000. Melbourne Cup jockeys who place in the first 10 receive 5% of the winnings, so it is a lucrative race for all concerned.

Melbourne Cup Jockey Trivia

With such a large prize pool at stake, and the eyes of the nation focused on the big race, the quality of Melbourne Cup jockeys is only surpassed by the quality of the field.

For that reason, many Melbourne Cup jockeys have become as well known as the horses they rode.

One such jockey is John ‘Cutts’ Dillon who rode Archer past the winning post in the first two Melbourne Cup events in 1861 and 1862. John Cutts was one of the most well respected jockeys in his era and rode for many trainers during his long career on the racetrack.

Another legendary Melbourne Cup jockey was Peter St Albans, who rode Briseis to success in 1876. Controversy surrounded St Albans’ Cup victory as it was believed at the time he was not yet 13 and therefore too young to ride, but this has since been disproved.

The first and only Aboriginal Melbourne Cup jockey to win the race was Frank Reys, who rode Gala Supreme to success in 1973. Controversy and confusion also surrounds Reys because he frequently claimed to be of Filipino descent. However, evidence now confirms that his maternal grandmother was from the Djiribul aboriginal tribe from Northern Queensland.

In 1987, Maree Lyndon became the first female jockey to ride in the Melbourne Cup on Argonaut Style in 1987. It wasn’t until 2003 that a female jockey, Clare Lindop, won the race on Debben.

The most successful Melbourne Cup jockeys, with four wins each, are Bobbie Lewis and Harry White.

Lewis took out the grand prize on The Victory in 1902, Patrobas in 1915, Artilleryman in 1919 and Trivalve in 1927. Harry White won on Think Big in 1974 and 1975, Arwon in 1978 and Hyperno in 1979.

Perhaps the most famous Melbourne Cup jockey in recent years is Glen Boss, who rode the mighty Makybe Diva past the winning post in three successive years: 2003, 2004 and 2005.  She carries the distinction of being the only horse to win the race three times as well as setting the record for the most weight carried by a mare when she claimed victory in 2005 carrying 58 kilograms.